Coming off of the holiday season, if you’re not in love with wrapping presents, the last thing you might want to do is wrap empty boxes in brown kraft paper for your child to decorate for a winter craft project or two. However, as a former gift-wrapping technician during high school (OK – not my official title, but it sounds pretty good), I promise: It’s easy to wrap a simple shape to transform into a little building to complete a wintry village play scene for your kids. Here are a few of my quick wrapping tips.
Prep your boxDepending on the condition of the empty box your child is going to decorate, tape down any open flaps or ripped corners. No fancy tape is necessary. |
Wrapping like a proCut a bigger piece of kraft paper for your box – more than you think you’ll need. Pull one end up to almost completely cover one side of the box. Tape down. |
| Next, pull the other side of the paper so that it overlaps the piece you just taped down. Pull it to the edge of the box. Fold the excess paper to create a crisp line that meets the edge of the box. Tape into place. |
| Trim off any excess kraft paper from the ends. Fold in toward the center of the box end to wrap. Again, fold the excess paper to create a crisp line on the ends and tape into place. |
Finish the wrapping
Once the box has been wrapped, run your fingers along all the edges to make crisp box lines. When that’s the done, the box is ready to decorate. You can do this prep work for younger children or have your kids practice gift wrapping by putting them in charge of this step.
